The popularity of the UFC heavyweight division was at an all-time high after Stipe Miocic finished off Daniel Cormier at UFC 241 in a thrilling back-and-forth rematch to regain the heavyweight title. A trilogy bout looked to be on the horizon with Cormier retiring whether he won, lost or drew against Miocic. But Miocic suffered an eye injury and had to have surgery that he claims was due to eye pokes by Cormier in the fight. Recently, Miocic said he was cleared but isn't sure he'd grant Cormier the opportunity to go out on top.
Because of this, a log jam has been created in the division. Worthy contenders like former title challengers Francis Ngannou, Derrick Lewis and top contenders Curtis Blaydes and Jairzinho Rozenstruik are in a position where they have to take fights which don't make sense for them, or sit out and see what Miocic is going to decide to do.
The No. 2-ranked Ngannou got tired of waiting and is risking his status of a deserving title shot by facing the rising No. 5-ranked Rozenstruik on March 28. Lewis sits one spot below Rozenstruik and faces former No. 12 light heavyweight Ilir Latfi at Saturday's UFC 247 from the Toyota Center in Lewis' hometown of Houston. While many fighters haven't spoken out on the chaos of the division, Lewis had no qualms letting his feelings known and puts the blames squarely on Miocic and Cormier.
"I believe that there are guys clogging up the division," Lewis told DAZN News. "They got the division on hold, and everyone else is just making the rounds trying to fight anyone whether they are ranked or not. I know there’s no way Francis should be fighting Jair Rozenstruik. There’s no way he should be fighting him. You would think he’d be trying to fight for the title right now. I don’t know why they (UFC) got him fighting Jair without fighting for the title. He’s proven himself already and that should have at least got a title shot out of it. Stipe and 'DC' (Cormier) are just really holding up the division."
How should things be playing out in the land of the giants? If you gave Lewis the keys to the kingdom, Miocic and Ngannou would meet once again, and Cormier could ride off into retirement.
"I would have made Miocic and Francis rematch, especially if he’s (Cormier) already talking about retiring," Lewis said.
After suffering back-to-back defeats to Cormier and former heavyweight titleholder Junior dos Santos, Lewis (22-7) got back on the winning track with a split-decision win over Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 244. The goal for Lewis is to get another crack at the gold, but for 2020, the "Black Beast" is looking to stay active and go undefeated, regardless of who is standing across from him inside the octagon, and it starts with Latifi.
"No one is really on my radar," Lewis said. "I just want to fight. Right now, it’s just being active and fighting whoever I can and wants to step up and fight."